The Cow Puzzle

[Martin S]

Let's solve a puzzle ;-)

Imagine you are working on a farm and taking care of cows. You love what you are doing - although the cows you are taking care of aren't your own so you can't sell any of the milk they produce and you can't sell the cows either.

So obviously you are in a very stupid situation - you are taking care of cows that aren't your own while getting ♥♥♥♥♥♥ pay for what you are doing - when you could instead do the exact same thing with your own cows and get all the benefits of owning them while still enjoying your work as much as you are enjoying it today.

The only problem is that all the cows in this imaginary world live in flocks which belong to one of the farmers. Of course there are wild cows which live in the woods but they are rare and difficult to deal with.

All that you are looking for is just a handful of cows which you can breed and turn into even more cows. Your only challenge is getting your hands on these first few cows.

Your have basically two choices - you either work on the farm and take care of cows that aren't your own - which is stupid - or you build your own farm and have your own cows which produce your own milk which you can sell and make the money that you are supposed to be making while doing the kind of work that you do.

How would you get your first few cows?

[escapeplan]

Well in all seriousness moving to Africa could work. Dairy is a growing business over there, cattle is relatively cheap, land is easy to come buy, labour for the farm building is cheaper etc.

With a growing food shortage (real or imagined) you could do a lot worse than start a dairy empire out there.

[ssandra]

Originally Posted by Martin S

How would you get your first few cows?

Several options:

Get a few baby wild cows so they will be getting used to you and not too hard too handle.

Get a deal with the farmer that you will continue to take care of his cows for lesser pay, if he gives you 5 of his cows to be raised together with his cows.

Steal some of the cows of the farmer (not my choice, but an option non the less).

Save up money from your salary to buy your first few cows

Ask the farmer if he'd be willing to give you a few cows (not likely that he'll say yes maybe, but you can always try)

Get into a joint venture with the farmer, letting him know that you'll work for no pay, in exchange for half the profit (or a few cows or something like that.)

And that are just the options I'm thinking of right now... I'm sure there are plenty more options

[Agota]

What was the question actually about?

..and back to cows - work for farmer, save the money, buy your own cows!

[rickrock]

You could build your own farm and tell people their if they give you cows, you'll give them 30% (or any percent) of the profits from the milk. When they breed those calves are yours. Selling their manure can also get you some money.

[SatvikBeri]

You could try going to a bank and getting a loan for cows.

If you have the credit available, you could use credit cards.

You could negotiate with your farmer or other farmers to get a percentage of the profits from the cows (equity).

You could put in the extra work to get wild cows.

You could work overtime, cut your expenses to the bone, and save up to buy cows.

[escapeplan]

Or...

Heres one I'm surprised no one here has suggested (not a serious idea just playing!)...

Go buy an SBI! Site, start a site on cows and/ or dairy milk and the like.

Use all the profits from your site to buy the cows- which you won't now need as you'll be an internet businessman instead!

[Martin S]

Hahaha.. I love all the replies.. we are being so creative here!

...while figuring out all the answers we need to know for building our own businesses..

[SatvikBeri]

Originally Posted by Martin S

Hahaha.. I love all the replies.. we are being so creative here!

...while figuring out all the answers we need to know for building our own businesses..

...but I don't wanna run my own business

[escapeplan]

Originally Posted by Martin S

Hahaha.. I love all the replies.. we are being so creative here!

...while figuring out all the answers we need to know for building our own businesses..

So how would you solve the puzzle?

[Martin S]

Originally Posted by escapeplan

So how would you solve the puzzle?

I would keep doing what I'm doing already ;-)

[escapeplan]

Originally Posted by Martin S

I would keep doing what I'm doing already ;-)

Perhaps you would, but that doesn't solve the puzzle!

[SarahJaynee]

I like Ssandra's idea of catching a wild calf. Then when it is grown, mate it with one of your herd in which case you create a new brand of cow. Patent it, trademark it and start listing all the ways it is better than either a wild cow or existing cow.
Soon your employer will be begging you to sell them some of your branded cows :-)

[Angela]

I'm not milking any f***ing cows.

[RaymondArotin]

Originally Posted by Martin S

Let's solve a puzzle ;-)

The only problem is that all the cows in this imaginary world live in flocks...

Well, there's your problem... cows gather in herds. Birds gather in flocks.

Well... unless they're flying cows.

Sorry...

[Andrew Brunelle]

Save money. Or buy some goats. Try to pass it off as cow milk. I'm sure nobody would notice. And I hear goats are much cheaper than cows.

[LostMyMap]

Originally Posted by Martin S

Let's solve a puzzle ;-)

Imagine you are working on a farm and taking care of cows. You love what you are doing - although the cows you are taking care of aren't your own so you can't sell any of the milk they produce and you can't sell the cows either.

So obviously you are in a very stupid situation - you are taking care of cows that aren't your own while getting ♥♥♥♥♥♥ pay for what you are doing - when you could instead do the exact same thing with your own cows and get all the benefits of owning them while still enjoying your work as much as you are enjoying it today.

The only problem is that all the cows in this imaginary world live in flocks which belong to one of the farmers. Of course there are wild cows which live in the woods but they are rare and difficult to deal with.

All that you are looking for is just a handful of cows which you can breed and turn into even more cows. Your only challenge is getting your hands on these first few cows.

Your have basically two choices - you either work on the farm and take care of cows that aren't your own - which is stupid - or you build your own farm and have your own cows which produce your own milk which you can sell and make the money that you are supposed to be making while doing the kind of work that you do.

How would you get your first few cows?

See I'd think service oriented. I would go to my farmer and say "I know your milking process inside and out and it is inefficient and costly. And I know exactly what to do to fix it. I know you think my consulting rate is rather high, but your competitor was willing to pay it and his milking process is 50% more cost efficient."

Make good money selling my expertise until I had enough to get my own operation.